I fell in love with the Stan Sakai-inspired Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I first saw images of them from the New York Toy Fair. They felt like a fun mix of the Mirage Turtles and the Cartoon Turtles. A happy hybrid that captured my heart and made me reach for my wallet instantly. I pictured a shelf with all four Turtles and a traditional Usagi Yojimbo in a similar style hanging out, enjoying each other’s company. The dopamine flooded my brain, and I knew I had to have them.
The Sakai Turtles were slotted for Target’s annual NECA collaboration: Haulathon. The “official” kickoff to Haulathon was March 20, but parts of the US started seeing product on Target shelves two weeks in advance. I began hitting stores in my area every chance I had. A junkie looking for a fix in the NECA section, back by electronics. With four Targets in my immediate vicinity, I was hopeful to get the hunt over quickly.
I got lucky a week early and found Michelangelo and Raphael. My regular Target had put them out along with Pee-Wee Herman & Pals, the Harry Potter figures, the Cartoon Robot Tokka and Rahzar, the 2012 TMNT Tigerclaw and Footbots and Pennywise the Dancing Clown. I would traditionally walk away from an incomplete set of Turtles. (I’ve never understood the monsters that only collect their favourite Turtle. My OCD would be off the charts.) As I said, I was a junkie looking for a fix, and I felt confident that Leo and Donnie would turn up in no time.
Day 1 of Haulathon came and went. The first drop featured the Sakai Turtles. Online orders quickly sold out. To make matters worse, the inventory numbers in the Target app can’t be trusted: it says all the stores around me are out of stock, even though there’s clearly some product sitting on shelves. I’ve been through this dance with Haulathon before. I’m not worried the product won’t turn up in the near future, but I am starting to question whether I really need or want these Turtles at this point.
These were an impulse buy when I purchased them in my mind a month ago. A fabricated reality that I felt compelled to force into existence. Probably due to the lack of toys on shelves, as I’ve explained before. The more time I’ve had to spend with my purchase, the more the impulse has worn off.
I was staring at Raph and Mikey in the in-box for days, waiting until I found the others to open the set. I started to examine the offering more closely. Mikey, Raph and Leo all have fun, expressive headsculpts. Donnie got done a little dirty and doesn’t get much expression at all. Annoyed or irritated, maybe? Might be deep in thought, but it’s more of a Raph vibe to me. The alternate heads that come with each Turtle are a bit of a nod to the OG toys, with gritting teeth on either the left or right of their mouths. It would have been great if they had embraced the OG feel a bit more and given us four unique sculpts as the original toys did. Only two heads given a repaint treatment across the set feels a bit like cutting corners.
And where are the accessories? Each Turtle gets two extra sets of hands, the previously mentioned extra head, a ninja star and their traditional weapon of choice. That’s an extremely light offering. It’s wrapped up in a lovely window box, but there’s nothing special about the packaging. At $37.99 each, it doesn’t feel like you’re getting much return on your investment. Given the number of Turtles figures NECA has churned out over the years, they could at least have reused some weapon effects or given us an additional head sculpt at this price point.
Why am I paying good money for something that I’m struggling to enjoy? I’m looking for excuses to keep them, rather than getting excited about tracking down Leo and Donnie. This is what happens when you buy an incomplete set of Turtles. It upsets the universe.
I picked up Pee-Wee Herman & Pals at the same time. I was excited to get the additional heads and new Pals: Randy and Globey. He sat alongside Mikey and Raph, and the more I stared at him, I wondered why I was paying so much for so much of the same. It’s identical to the figure that came out last year, with two extra heads and two new Playhouse Pals. When the original Ultimate Pee-Wee dropped during last year’s Haulathon, I suggested they should offer a two-pack of Pals with some extra heads. (I even suggested the Tape Face Head.) I didn’t realize they would force me to buy the exact same set to get the additional accessories I suggested. Had I known that, I would have held off on buying last year’s model in favour of this year’s.
I love toys. I love hunting for toys and buying them. I love the thrill of finding something I’m looking for. It’s my happy place. I don’t mind being separated from my money in those moments. When I feel like I’m being taken advantage of as a consumer, whether it be cutting corners and skimping out or forcing me to pay for things I don’t want, it pisses me off.
That’s kind of where I’m at with this year’s Haulathon. A month ago I was ready to buy damn near everything. I wanted to be knee deep in NECA. Now, I might only be looking for The Black and White Phantom of the Opera and Super Grover. Part of me is on the fence with Super Grover because that seems like another Pee-Wee situation where they could release another version of the same figure next year; add in a trench coat, glasses and a reporter hat and slap a $39.99 price tag on it to try and get me to buy it again. I can resist multiple Pee-Wee Hermans. Multiple members of the Sesame Street Gang may pose a tougher challenge.
I decided to take all three figures back and recoup my $120. It felt better to do that than to live with a purchase that wasn’t making me happy. I still love the design of the Sakai Turtles. They’re top-notch. I just wish there was a bit more in the box or a little more attention to detail. Maybe someday they can offer the Sakai Turtles at a more reasonable price? If they priced them at $29.99, I would have kept them, been thrilled with the purchase and lobbied for more characters to get the Sakai treatment. The figures are great. The offering? Not so much.
